Federal Judge Kills California Game Law

The bill would have kept violent videogames out of the hands of minors.

By Ryan Geddes

A federal district court judge has struck down a controversial California videogame law intended to prohibit the sale or rental of violent videogames to minors.

Assembly Bill 1179 was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005 and was to take effect January 2006. But the law was never enforced, due to a preliminary injunction filed after its signing by the Video Software Dealers Association (now the Entertainment Merchants Association) and the Entertainment Software Association.

In a decision today, U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte issued a summary judgment in favor of the EMA and ESA, who called the law unconstitutional, saying that videogames are a form of expression protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, even for minors; that the law's definition of 'violent videogame' is too vague; and that labeling provisions in the act conflict with the First Amendment.

According to the ruling, Assembly Bill 1179 defines a "violent videogame" as one in which "the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being." The bill's language goes on to describe in detail how those acts would have to be depicted in order to be considered violent.

The 17-page decision cites free-speech and broader legal concerns, and criticizes the bill's definitions and restrictions.

"The Act contains two definitions of a 'violent videogame;' a game needs only satisfy one definition to be covered," Whyte wrote in the ruling. "The second definition&#Array;has no exception for material with some redeeming value and is therefore too broad. The definition could literally apply to some classic literature if put in the form of a videogame."

While we're not sure if Whyte would consider some of our favorite graphic-novels-turned-games to be "classic literature," his timing is certainly prescient - the release of the game version of the movie version of the book version of the epic poem version of Beowulf is scheduled for release by Ubisoft in November.

In a statement released Monday, EMA president Bo Andersen praised Whyte's decision and called for the California legislature to work more closely with industry trade groups to educate parents and other groups.

"It was inevitable that the federal district court would find the California videogame restriction law unconstitutional, as eight similar laws around the country have been overturned in the past six years," Andersen said. "We informed the legislature that this would be the eventual result when it was considering the law, and it is indeed unfortunate that legislature ignored the prior cases."